Pastry chefs are embellishing hundreds of cupcakes with rainbow frosting and mini flags, downtown hotels are hosting celebratory pool parties, and Hillcrest restaurants are bringing in extra staff in anticipation of a Pride-filled weekend that’s expected to be the biggest ever.

Credit last month’s groundbreaking Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage for bringing even greater attention than normal to the annual three-day festival and parade, which is billed as San Diego’s largest one-day civic event. Organizers are predicting that attendance, typically as much as 240,000 over three days, could swell to well over 300,000.

“We’re hearing from the various contingents in the parade, which recruit people to participate, that they’ve never seen numbers like this — 100 to 200 marching per contingent where it’s usually 10 to 40,” said Fernando Lopez, public affairs director for San Diego LGBT Gay Pride, the nonprofit behind the fourth largest pride event in the nation. “Our online advance sales are up over last year, and we’re seeing a tremendous increase in Facebook activity leading up to this year’s parade and festival.”

Pride schedule

Spirit of Stonewall rally and flag-raising: Friday 6 p.m. to 7 p.m., Normal Street and University Avenue. There is no cost.

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San Francisco’s gay pride parade, which was held the weekend following the Supreme Court decision, drew 1.5 million people, a huge turnout considering the event normally draws just under a million, according to San Francisco Pride CEO Earl Plante.

While San Diego revelers had much to celebrate last year — including a city street renamed in honor of Harvey Milk and active-duty military parade participants in uniform for the first time — Pride boosters say it doesn’t get much better than the nation’s highest court clearing the way for same-sex marriages to resume in California.

That’s why Babycakes co-owner Christopher Stavros has ordered up some 500 specially decorated cupcakes and 25 multi-hued layer cakes for the occasion, about 30 percent more than last year’s baking marathon. He’s also expecting large crowds for the restaurant’s post-parade party and its “Big Fat Gay Brunch on Sunday.

Similarly, the Range 1202 restaurant and its companion nightclub in Hillcrest have planned multiple events in conjunction with Pride, including appearances by top performers and DJ’s throughout the weekend.

“It will be around the clock for us,” said General Manager Daniel Schulz. “There’s not a lot of sleep but it’s worth it at the end. The revenues we’ll make are almost 10 times what we’d make in a normal weekend. The day the ruling came out, it was a Wednesday, which is not a major bar night but it’s unbelievable how many people were out. It was like a Saturday night.”

This year’s Pride theme — “Freedom to love and marry” — sets the tone for a celebration that kicks off Friday evening with the Spirit of Stonewall Rally, which honors Manhattan’s Stonewall riots in 1969, considered by many as the birth of the modern LGBT movement. A block party will follow, complete with dance stages and DJ’s.

A two-day festival, featuring more than 150 entertainers, 250 exhibitors, food, carnival rides and a special wedding garden to commemorate now legal same-sex unions will be held Saturday and Sunday in Balboa Park.

But the main event is the Saturday morning parade, known for its participants’ often flamboyant and skimpy costumes. The parade, though, has also grown increasingly mainstream, with elected leaders, members of the military and local companies joining gay activists. For the first time, Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs will be walking down the parade route, said Lopez.

Actor George Takei, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the television series Star Trek, will be one of the grand marshals, along with his husband Brad and singer La Toya Jackson.

The party atmosphere that envelops Hillcrest and Balboa Park throughout the weekend extends to area hotels, restaurants and bars that capitalize on the thousands who come to the city to share in the revelry. Private promoters are also producing a number of nighttime events, staging them at local venues like the San Diego Zoo, Hall of Champions and House of Blues.

While it’s difficult to say just how much additional spending the Pride weekend generates, an economic impact report prepared four years ago by UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management concluded that the parade alone was responsible for $9.8 million in lodging expenditures. A survey conducted by the school also found that nearly 50 percent of parade attendees come from outside the city of San Diego.

Downtown San Diego’s Hotel Palomar, which is dressing up its front doors with a rainbow-patterned covering that reads, “Show your pride,” expects to see a 30 percent lift in spending on dining and drinking over the weekend, said the hotel’s food and beverage director, Christopher Hile.

The Palomar has planned an all-day barbecue on its rooftop pool lounge, and the following day it’s hosting another pool bash, with a DJ spinning tunes.

“We all kind of sat down as a hotel and strategized the entire summer and we really felt that because of what was happening, (Pride) would be a much bigger thing than in the past,” Hile said. “We felt we wanted to make the weekend an experience at the hotel so you didn’t necessarily have to leave the hotel go to the festival.”

TheHard Rock hotel, Manchester Grand Hyatt and the W all are reporting they’re fully booked or nearly sold out this weekend but point out that most July weekends they tend to be full. Still, both the W and Hard Rock are holding Pride-themed pool parties tailored for the weekend celebration.

The owners of the Mo’s Universe of Hillcrest restaurants, normally packed for the annual celebration, have taken extra steps this year to prepare for the throngs, something they didn’t feel the need to do in the past. For example, they presold all of Urban Mo’s tables during the parade and all seating at Gossip Grill and Baja Betty’s. Mo’s Universe, which describes itself as a group of “hetero-friendly gay restaurants and bars,” also owns the Hillcrest Brewing Co.

“What gave us the extra push was the day of the ruling, we were speaking with police, and they told us to be aware there would be thousands of people in Hillcrest that night,” said Eddie Reynoso, marketing director for MO’s Universe. “That really prepared us. It kinda gave us a practice run, told us what areas we needed to improve on for Pride.”